Northernomics is the high-road strategy of building a flourishing national economy by means of government-business cooperation and government investment in R&D, infrastructure and education.

Southernomics is radically different. The purpose of the age-old economic development strategy of the Southern states has never been to allow them to compete with other states or countries on the basis of superior innovation or living standards. Instead, for generations Southern economic policymakers have sought to secure a lucrative second-tier role for the South in the national and world economies, as a supplier of commodities like cotton and oil and gas and a source of cheap labor for footloose corporations. This strategy of specializing in commodities and cheap labor is intended to enrich the Southern oligarchy. It doesn’t enrich the majority of Southerners, white, black or brown, but it is not intended to.

The southern race to the economic bottom, in which workers rights are weakened and regulation rejected, is a national economic poison. The ironic piece of the story is how the southern states cut state spending to the bone on social programs and infrastructure, only to supplement with a massive annual influx of federal spending. Southern states receive way more in federal spending than they contribute in tax revenue. Yet, by and large, red state voters loathe the federal government.

If you ask Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher, the solution to all these megabanks being “too big” is to make them smaller. Chop ’em up. Whittle ’em down. Or in the language that these megacorporations like to use in similar situations pertaining to their employees, “right-size” them.

In a speech last week, Fisher called America’s megabanks “overly complex.” According to the Independent Community Bankers of America, Fisher noted that “99.8 percent of the nation’s banks are subject to failure, which ensures that these smaller institutions limit their risk.” The nation’s 12 largest “megabanks,” in contrast, hold 69 percent of U.S. banking industry assets, and have been given a blanket guarantee that they’re too big to fail.

Fun Fact #2! Did you know that the financial sector sucks $635 billion every year out of the economy that could otherwise go to more productive uses. The more you know…